


Chairs

by Grasslands



Series: Kindred Spirits [2]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood Friends, Disclaimer: I don't own GG, Elementary School, Gen, Kindred Spirits, Literati, Luke POV, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 11:09:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25968664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grasslands/pseuds/Grasslands
Summary: Luke and Lorelai were called into Stars Hallow Elementary because of a prank Jess and Rory pulled. It hadn't been the first time Jess had done something like that in school though. Things were discovered and solutions were made. Same Universe as I Hate You, Mommy! Rating because of age of characters.
Relationships: Luke Danes & Lorelai Gilmore, Rory Gilmore & Jess Mariano
Series: Kindred Spirits [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884817
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Chairs

**Author's Note:**

> So, here is the next installment of this little AU. I'm kind of writing whatever comes to mind that will allow certain cannon things to still occur. I love all the scenes of Jess doing prestidigitation because it fits his character so well. So, if he lives in Stars Hallow as a kid how does he learn it? I also like to think he'd pull some pranks and Rory always found them amusing. Some of Luke's lines were really hard to write for this. I am a Special Education and Early Childhood major and the things Luke says were so hard to write down. However, the situation does happen in real life. Schools that lack funding, like small town ones, are often reluctant to evaluate any kind of exceptionality. Also, sometimes parents or gaurdians refuse to give consent for evaluation. Sad, but true. Thank you for the comments and kudos on part 1! Please do so again and send in requests if you have any! Enjoy!

"Faithfulness and devotion, things born of fire and roof were his yet he retained his wildness and wiliness."

-Jack London

* * *

Luke was annoyed and angry. He hadn’t expected to be interrupted during his busy day at the diner to sit and wait for the principal to call him in. Lorelai had been called in but she had insisted on seeing the kids, specifically Rory. He sat bouncing his leg impatiently. He needed to get back to work. He didn’t understand why they had called him for a meeting only to make him wait. 

Lorelai took a seat next to him with a sigh. He looked over at her and she had a look that was a cross between annoyed, angry, and amused.

“Well?” Luke prompted. 

“They took all the chairs from their classroom and put them in the classroom next door.”

“How on earth...”

“Rory was supposed to clean the blackboard this week during breaks as her special job. Jess stayed behind to “help” and suggested they do it. You have to admit. It’s pretty clever for second graders. Anyway, both teachers were mad and told them to return all the chairs to the classroom. So, they took _all_ the chairs from the classroom next door and put them in their classroom,” Lorelai said, trying to contain a smile. Luke snorted. It was something his nephew would do. However, Rory always followed the rules. He wondered how Jess had talked Rory into such a thing. It was not the first time Jess had misbehaved. Luke had received plenty of notes home from Jess’s teachers. However, he had never been called into the school before. It was Rory’s first time and Lorelai had been called in. That probably upset Rory the most. He was not impressed with Stars Hallow Elementary. None of the teachers were exceptional and they did not seem to be able to handle kids. He didn’t like kids but they had to. They were paid to. 

“Why didn’t the teachers watch them?”

“They were with the other students outside. They couldn’t just have the kids stand in line for ten to fifteen minutes.” 

“Ms. Gilmore and Mr. Danes?” Principal Cain called. Luke and Lorelai stood together and Luke let Lorelai enter before following her in. He sat in one of the chairs across the desk. 

“You have been called in here today to discuss your children’s behavior today. They disrupted not only their own class but Mrs. Graves' class as well. Now, Ms. Gilmore, Rory is a very good student and has never done something like this. I will excuse this just once under the pretense of poor influence. However, if anything like this occurs again there will be consequences.”

“I understand, Principal Cain. I promise this will not happen again. Trust me, Rory feels awful. She has been crying and fretting about being expelled since they did it,” Lorelai said earnestly. Rory was sensitive. He knew this. Jess was tough. He was the most resilient kid Luke had ever seen. He had to be to be Liz’s son. He and Rory were so similar in so many ways except for that. Rory was affected by things far easier and much more than Jess was. He would need to have a talk with his nephew about it. 

“Alright. You may leave and collect your daughter, Ms. Gilmore. Have a nice day,” Principal Cain said. He hadn’t even addressed Luke about Jess yet and it made Luke nervous. He couldn’t have Jess expelled. He couldn’t homeschool him and he had no time to shlep him to another school somewhere outside Stars Hallow. Lorelai thanked Principal Cain and left. Principal Cain shifted his chair slightly to look Luke directly in the eyes, “Mr. Danes, this is not the first time Jess has done something like this. I’m sure you are aware based on the notes that have been sent home. Now, normally this would warrant major discipline. However, we have been observing Jess and we think something else is going on. Miss Lissing will be here in a couple minutes and then we will discuss what can be done for Jess,” Principal Cain said elusively. He made it sound like there was something wrong with Jess. Luke was still trying to figure out how to raise a kid. He didn’t need some diagnosis on top of his other problems. It had been almost a year since Jess came and he was still trying to figure out how to be the caregiver he needed to be. Jess wasn’t a normal kid. He knew that. He’d lived with Liz for almost seven years. A person didn’t leave that environment with no problems. It hadn’t been too bad though. He wasn’t completely alone. Jess had Rory and she calmed Jess and Lorelai helped him. Lorelai had been the one to tell him when he needed to do little things like hang some of Jess’ work from school on the fridge or ask Jess what he wanted for lunch or dinner. He didn’t even know those kinds of things would make any difference until he tried them. 

The door to the office opened and Miss Lissing stepped in. He had met her on the first day of school. She had thick, black, curly hair and a long, straight, narrow nose and glasses that hung low on her face. She had thin lips and sullen cheeks. She looked much older than she was and didn’t seem bothered by the fact. However, she was kind and Luke never heard complaints from Jess despite the trouble Jess got into in her classroom. 

“Principal Cain. Mr. Danes,” Miss Lissing said, nodding at each of them separately. Luke was getting impatient. He didn’t want to do any of this small talk or pleasantries. He wanted to get down to the meat of the discussion and then get back to work.

“Can we just get on with the meeting? Miss Lissing, what is this about?”

“As you know, Mr. Danes. Jess has gotten in a lot of trouble this year. He does small things usually, but they are distracting. However, it’s different from other children who behave poorly. He doesn’t shout out of turn, he isn’t defiant, he doesn’t bully anyone, and he isn’t doing it for attention. He’s bored.”

“What?”

“He is bored. He finishes his work in half the time as the other students and almost always gets 100%. He’s an eight year old boy. He’s rambunctious and he doesn’t know how to constructively use up his time so he causes trouble. He entertains himself in his own way. While we want to foster creativity at Stars Hallow Elementary, we discourage misbehavior and disruption. So, we have a few options for Jess to improve the situation. The first one would be to move him up a grade. We think he would be able to easily catch on and catch up,” Miss Lissing started. Luke was immediately against the idea. Jess was small. He was on the older side for his grade but he was small. Jess didn’t need to be even smaller. Plus he needed Rory and Luke wouldn’t separate them.

“No, no way! He does not need that kind of change part way through the school year. Jess isn’t a social kid and I don’t want him to be ostracized like that. It may be good for him this year, but what about in later grades? No, we need to look at the long term effects,” Luke said shaking his head decidedly. Jess had gone through enough change, he didn’t need something like a new class, teacher, and classmates suddenly. 

“Alright. Well, we have been discussing having him tested as a gifted student. If he is, Stars Hallow Elementary isn’t an appropriate educational environment for him.”

“No. You aren’t testing or labeling him. He is staying at Stars Hallow Elementary. Listen, Jess doesn’t like school. He gets good grades and he does the work, but he hates school. He tells me enough that it is one of the few things I am very sure about with him. Now, he may not be “challenged” the way you think he needs at school, but that’s on you. The kid reads more than anyone I know, except maybe Rory. He’s learning plenty outside of school. So, you need to come up with solutions in the classroom that keep him with his peers and normal kids. He doesn’t need to be at some freak school with only gifted students,” Luke ranted angrily. Miss Lissing and Principal Cain both sighed. 

“Alright, we can find classroom solutions. We don’t want to give him busy work that he won’t enjoy and that won’t even be graded. Rory finishes a lot of the work early but she is content to read in her free time.”

“Why doesn’t Jess just do that? He reads for hours at home.”

“Like I said, he’s bored. I don’t think he wants to sit quietly at his desk and read. I think some hands on activities would be good for him. They could be educational or not. We just need to keep him busy and I think he will have far less time to be disruptive.”

“What kinds of hands on activities?”

“Ones that are small and can be at his desk. We’ll need to lay out some rules and I think his desk will need to be in the back of the classroom so it doesn’t distract the other students. He could do little things: origami, string games, puzzles, and maybe riddles. That’s just a few ideas.”

“Alright. Fine.”

“Okay. Let me type up a few things about this so you can discuss it with Jess. He’ll need to finish his work first of course. He can do his homework if he wants to. He needs to stay at his desk and he will be next to kids we know won’t be distracted by him,” Principal Cain said, typing quickly at his computer. 

“I want him next to Rory and if he has to do this in other grades I want him in her class,” Luke said. So, far they had been in the same first and second grade classes by chance. However, he was pretty sure half the reason Jess did the schoolwork he clearly hated was because of Rory. Rory cared so much for both of them and it rubbed off on Jess. 

“Mr. Danes, after today I don’t think that’s a good idea..”

“You said this happened because Jess was bored and Rory was influenced by him. So, we do this and he’s not bored anymore and this doesn’t happen again. He and Rory are best friends and I know her. She could do her work during an earthquake. It won’t be a problem,” Luke said. The two across from him seemed to consider it for a minute before nodding. Principal Cain finished the document and printed several copies. Luke watched him place one in a folder, probably Jess’s school file. He handed one to Luke and one to Miss Lissing. 

“That should be all, Mr. Danes. If you have any questions about this, don’t hesitate to ask. You may collect Jess and go home. Thank you for meeting with us,” Principal Cain said. Luke left and went to the hallway that Jess was sitting in. He was picking at his shoe laces when Luke approached and he looked up at his guardian. 

“I didn’t mean to get Rory in trouble, Uncle Luke, I swear.”

“I know, Jess.”

“Are we in a lot of trouble?”

“Come on. We’ll discuss it after dinner,” Luke said. He wanted to get out of the school and back to the diner. He was probably going to have to close early, but he wanted to try to get another hour of business before sitting Jess down for a long discussion about Rory and his behavior and the changes at school. His words didn’t seem to relieve Jess. Jess still looked upset and worried.

“Is Lorelai still going to let me play with Rory?” Jess asked, standing up to walk with Luke. 

“Why wouldn’t she?”

“Cause I got her in trouble,” Jess said simply. Luke didn’t know where he had come to such a conclusion. He hoped Lorelai hadn’t said anything to him when she had gone to see the kids before the meeting. 

“Did Lorelai say something?”

“No, but Rory was crying.”

“Well, you have to apologize to Rory for getting her in trouble and you should also apologize to Lorelai, but I think you can still play with Rory,” Luke assured. Jess was pleased by this and smiled at Luke as they walked. Jess didn’t seem that bothered by what he had done or the trouble he had caused. He never did and Luke realized Jess never saw his disruptions as bad. 

“Good. She has my Call of the Wild,” Jess said simply. Luke sighed. All the boy seemed to think about was books, free time, and Rory. He wasn’t a bad kid, but he seemed to enjoy other worlds than reality. For that reason, Rory was his only friend because she was the same. Sometimes Luke wished Jess had more friends but most of the time he was relieved that his one friend was a sweet little girl and very unlike other kids. He didn’t think he would be able to handle Jess having friends that wanted to run around and shout and fight with dirty faces and sticky hands. 

Luke and Jess walked in silence the last few minutes to the diner. Luke instructed Jess to do his homework upstairs in his room before asking Jess what he wanted to eat for dinner. Jess headed for the stairs grumbling the whole way up about math. As soon as Jess was upstairs, Luke went to talk to Caesar about what he had missed when he was gone. He needed a distraction from thinking about the long talk he would have to have with his nephew later that night.


End file.
